Former Australia opening batter Usman Khawaja has claimed that the whole Australian touring party knew about the ball tampering plan in South Africa in 2018.
He makes the claim in his new autobiography, Sabr. Khawaja also says sandpaper had already been used in the Test before Newlands, at St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
“It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” Khawaja told Australian media.
The claim goes against the original Cricket Australia investigation. That probe found that only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft knew about the plan. Cricket Australia said it still stands by those findings.
Khawaja said he was never interviewed during that investigation. He also claims Bancroft offered to use sandpaper in the Port Elizabeth Test. According to Khawaja, this came after talks in the dressing room about how well sandpaper helped the ball reverse swing.
Khawaja later repeated his comments in a two-part video statement on Instagram. “I haven’t thrown anyone under the bus. These three guys took the blame for all of us and they’re the victims. The truth has never come out,” he said.
He said he never spoke for anyone else in his book. He said the team must take shared responsibility for what happened. “Am I going to deny that everyone knew? No,” he said.
Khawaja said he wanted to speak out at the time. “When the other guys got their penalties I told Smudge (Smith) that I was going to come clean to the media. I couldn’t believe the penalty he got, but Smudge being the man and leader he was, talked me out of it,” he said.
“He wanted to take the blame. I argued with him, but he was having none of it,” Khawaja added.
The scandal broke during the Newlands Test in Cape Town in March 2018. Australia then lost that Test to the Proteas by 322 runs. The visitors lost their last 10 wickets for just 50 runs.
Tim Paine had just been named interim captain. He faced the media at the Newlands Media Centre after the defeat. Paine called the previous 24 hours “horrible” and said sorry to Australian fans.
“The guys who’ve travelled over here deserve better than what we put up yesterday,” Paine said at the time. He said it had been hard for the players to focus on cricket. He added that this was no excuse for how they played.
Paine later wrote his own autobiography, The Price Paid. In it, he said the players were shocked when Bancroft was caught. He also said the team should have taken more shared responsibility.
“Everyone was a part of it to some degree,” Paine wrote. He asked whether things could have turned out differently if the team had stood together.
Paine did not say that the whole dressing room knew about the plan. He did say the team could have done more to support Smith, Warner and Bancroft.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL Sport. Image: IOL Sport. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Sports desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Tiyani Mathebula writes about sport for Tzaneen Voice. Tiyani covers Bafana Bafana, the Springboks, the Proteas and the PSL, along with athletics, tennis and local club sport. Match reports and previews focus on results, team news, fixtures and what each game means for South African teams and fans.